Emirates is by far the world's largest operator of the A380 (they have almost half of the world's A380s on order), so their threshold for sending an A380 to a destination is much lower than at some other carriers, which have to be much more selective. That's why I've always found it odd that Emirates…
Continue reading: Emirates Will Soon Fly The A380 To Johannesburg
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Lucky, any great ideas on how to position oneself to take advantage of that low fare??
Emirates flew the A380 to Johannesburg back in 2011. I was an EK gold back then and recall flying the EK A380 there from DXB. Thu must have stopped it at some point. Not sure why.
EK was one of the first carriers to fly the 380 to JNB, and as Joey says they stopped at some point.
I believe LH currently flies the 747-8 in place of the 380, though I don't recall when that changed, but it was in the last 12 months or so.
Just flew the 777 and A380 from JNB - DXB - YYZ and I can agree that the Y cabin is MUCH better on the A380. Good swap.
How many miles for an award ticket from the US to JNB in FC, and which program is best?
Does one still quality for chauffeur service if booking the ticket through something like Amex Travel? Trying to decide whether or not to buy direct. Not sure if there is any advantage to booking these through one channel or another versus direct from Emirates. Guessing in a problem situation, Amex Travel might provide best service, but it's a refundable FC Emirates cash fare..... Not sure what there would be to worry about. Definitely want chauffeur service though.... Anyone?
One of the things I hate most about flights to/from that part of the world (Gulf, India, etc) are the crazy departure times. Even if I have a bed in F and can sleep on the plane, I hate those middle-of-the-night flights.
I know it all has to do with the positioning of planes and integration of the whole fleet, but ..... 4:40 am departure -- yuck!
Nicco
Yes you can use your AMEX card to purchase and still get the chauffeur service. I recently flew a trip in Business to multiple locations and could get a car service at each location. Car perk was great! If you have the right card you can get double MR points for booking online.
The Emirates website shows EK762 (and all of its other flights from JNB to DXB) to be a 777 at the end of May 2017 (my preferred travel time). Is the A380 seasonal?
Looks like as of Aug1 this is now pricing way higher... too bad. Hopefully EK drops the price again. I'd love to take advantage just to fly in such blingy-ness.
The first time I flew the A380 was LH F was an award....simply there and back a few days later, just to fly that new plane. But today, after I've flown A380 numerous times on various airlines--and if there was a flight at similar service for a lower price, I wouldn't pay more to fly the A380.